Luxembourg tops the list of education spending in the EU

In 2015, Luxembourg spent an average of €4,635 per inhabitant on education, more than any other EU member state.

31.08.2017

In 2015, Luxembourg spent an average of €4,635 per inhabitant on education, according to the latest figures from the European Union statistics agency Eurostat.

The average expenditure per inhabitant in the EU amounted to €1,405 that year, with a total of €716 billion being spent on education over the 28 member states.

Only three countries, Luxembourg, Denmark (€3,368) and Sweden (€2,977), spent more than €2,500 per head. On the other end of the spectrum, are Romania (€248), Bulgaria (€250) and Croatia (€494), the three only country to spend less than €500 per head on education.

In terms of ratio of GDP spent on education, Denmark tops the list with 7%, followed by Sweden with 6.5% and Belgium with 6.4%. Luxembourg is with 5.2% only 0.3% above the European average of 4.9%. Romania (3.1%) and Ireland (3.7) populate the bottom of the list.

Member states on average spend the most money on social protection with 19.2% of the GDP, on health (7.2%), on general public services (6.2%). Education is with 4.9% the fourth largest public expenditure.

Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, which are part of the European Economic Area (EEA), all spent spent more per head than the EU average.